The association between maternal and partner experienced racial discrimination and prenatal perceived stress, prenatal and postnatal depression: findings from the growing up in New Zealand cohort study

International Journal for Equity in Health

Research

Polly Atatoa-Carr¹  Laia Bécares² 

[1] Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, The University of Auckland, 1142, Auckland, New Zealand;University of Manchester, Humanities Bridgeford Street, G.14, Oxford Road, M13 9PL, Manchester, UK;

关键词: Racial discrimination;    Ethnicity;    New Zealand;    Prenatal;    Postnatal;    Depression;    Perceived stress;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12939-016-0443-4

 received in 2016-05-03, accepted in 2016-09-12,  发布年份 2016

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundA growing number of studies document the association between maternal experiences of racial discrimination and adverse children’s outcomes, but our understanding of how experiences of racial discrimination are associated with pre- and post-natal maternal mental health, is limited. In addition, existent literature rarely takes into consideration racial discrimination experienced by the partner.MethodsWe analysed data from the Growing Up in New Zealand study to examine the burden of lifetime and past year experiences of racial discrimination on prenatal and postnatal mental health among Māori, Pacific, and Asian women in New Zealand (NZ), and to study the individual and joint contribution of mother’s and partner’s experiences of lifetime and past year racial discrimination to women’s prenatal and postnatal mental health.ResultsOur findings show strong associations between lifetime and past year experiences of ethnically-motivated interpersonal attacks and unfair treatment on mother’s mental health. Māori, Pacific, and Asian women who had experienced unfair treatment by a health professional in their lifetime were 66 % more likely to suffer from postnatal depression, compared to women who did not report these experiences. We found a cumulative effect of lifetime experiences of ethnically-motivated personal attacks on poor maternal mental health if both the mother and the partner had experienced a racist attack.ConclusionsExperiences of racial discrimination have severe direct consequences for the mother’s mental health. Given the importance of mother’s mental health for the basic human needs of a healthy child, racism and racial discrimination should be addressed.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2016